Dead Man's Deal Part 19

I looked around as he spoke to discover that I was now standing near the mouth of the alley, several feet away from where we had stopped just moments earlier. Smoke was clogging the air and darkening the sky. I could still hear the screaming mingled with the high-pitched cries of terrified and hurt children. There was a slight tingle of magic in the air, but I couldn't tell if the warlock and the witches were still in the area or if they had left to search for me elsewhere.

"I'm supposed to just hide back here? Let those people die for me? That's bulls.h.i.+t!" I shouted before I turned and started to walk out of the alley. I didn't know what the h.e.l.l I was going to do if I did encounter the trio, but it was going to be more than just hiding in some G.o.dd.a.m.n alley like a coward while the people of the Low Town suffered for my presence.

Gideon's quick footsteps echoed off the pavement a second before he grabbed my shoulder. His fingers tried to dig deep but I shrugged him off. He wasn't using magic and I could only a.s.sume that the reason for it was that he was afraid of catching the attention to the a.s.sholes one block over.

"What are you thinking?" Gideon demanded in a harsh voice, sounding like he was straining not to shout. "You're going to march out there and let them kill you. What's that going to solve?"

"It's going to stop them from killing anyone else," I said, turning back to face him.

"No, it's not! You die and they might continue killing people in Low Town. Nothing's solved. We both know they're going to kill people in the future because that's what the Towers do. Only thing that would be accomplished would be that you're dead."

"Then go out there with me. Between the two of us, we can take them."

Gideon's earnest expression disappeared and he straightened, his spine becoming a steel rod before my eyes. "No."

"What?"

"No. It's too risky."

"What do you mean? We can take them. End this."

He shook his head. "And what if one of them escapes before we can kill them? The Towers will know that I'm helping you. I'm dead. There will be no one to protect my family. I won't leave them defenseless. Not for a bunch of strangers."

"Gideon-"

"No. I'm sorry people are dying, but I'm not willing to risk the lives of my family for them. At least, not how you're willing to risk Trixie's life."

"What are you talking about?" I snarled, balling up my fist at my side.

"If you throw your life away on this trio, who is going to protect your girlfriend? And your brother? And your friends? Does she mean that little to you?"

I shouted, rage pouring through me. I was angry at the Towers, angry at the deaths occurring just yards from me that I could do nothing about, angry that I was so helpless in this horrible world despite all my abilities. I swung my fist at Gideon. The warlock wasn't quite fast enough and I clipped the edge of his jaw. Pivoting on the b.a.l.l.s of my feet, I s.h.i.+fted, throwing my weight behind another swing, but something had changed in his expression. His head was turned away from me and slightly tilted as if he were listening to something. I froze, watching him as my billowing fury deflated.

"They're gone, aren't they?" I said numbly.

He nodded and a part of me hated him. He'd pulled me away, hidden me, and then distracted me when I was determined to run to my death.

"You're going out there," he said in a low voice, but I think he meant it as a question.

"Yeah."

"Don't use magic, even if it is to help them. They won't see you as a savior. You'll just be another warlock."

I turned to look over at him, to tell him to f.u.c.k off, but he was already gone. With stomach churning, I walked down the alley and headed down the short block until I came to the street that contained Diamond Dolls. Closing my eyes, I swore softly, hating myself a little.

In less than five minutes, two witches and one warlock had turned the little commercial district into a war zone. The windows in every building had been shattered and most of the buildings were burning. Cars were overturned and a few trees had been uprooted so they could be thrown into storefronts.

Diamond Dolls was split open like a festering wound and was smoldering as whoever remained behind struggled to put out the flames. I briefly thought of Chang, but pushed the thought aside. The old man knew how to take care of himself. There was no way he was ever going to be caught by the Towers.

Bodies littered the area, broken and torn. Blind eyes stared up at the darkening sky while blood spread steadily across the fractured pavement. Old and young. Human and other. The spell weavers had killed indiscriminately, striving to cause as much damage as possible.

Scanning the area, my eyes lit on a little girl in a dirty dress, sitting in the middle of the street next to the dead body of a woman. The child's face was streaked with tears as her little hand smoothed the hair back from the woman's face. I started to walk toward her, but I stopped myself after two steps. How could I comfort this child when it was my fault that her mother was now dead? If I had come out to face the killers, would they have stopped? Would most of the victims at least have escaped this brutal death?

Maybe Gideon was right. Dying today would not have fixed anything. It wouldn't have saved these people. The attack on Low Town was only the start. The warlocks and the witches of the Ivory Towers were going to keep coming, tearing apart the world until they located the person who had breached their defenses. People were going to be violently tortured and killed. Cities were going to be destroyed while others were starved. No one would be left until they had what they wanted.

If I wanted to help the tear-streaked little girl, I had to find Reave and stop him before a new war ripped this world apart.

Emergency vehicles screamed, announcing their approach to the scene. People who could offer more immediate help were coming to put out fires, mend broken bodies, and gather up the dead.

Swallowing back the bile that had risen in my throat, I forced myself to turn back and start walking toward my car. I hadn't been alive during the Great War, hadn't witnessed it firsthand, but the destruction of this little block was only a faint glimpse of what was coming. I knew the image of the little girl and her mother was going to haunt me for the rest of my life. Things had to change. If my world was going to survive, things had to change. I just didn't have a clue as to how that was going to happen.

18.

WHEN I GOT back to Asylum after leaving the b.l.o.o.d.y mess outside of Diamond Dolls, I wasn't thinking clearly. I had lost Reave, who was threatening the entire world with his scheme, and he'd deftly thrown my brother in front of the bus that was the Towers. It seemed as if every step I took created a bigger mess rather than fixing things. And now I was relying on the help of a creature who might think itself to be Mother Nature, to help the elves so that Trixie could have a safe place to hide when all h.e.l.l broke loose, while I watched the Towers tear the world apart in their search.

Slamming the front door behind me, I stomped through the lobby and into the back tattooing room. Trixie was rising from her chair when I entered, a worried look on her face. But it wasn't her face. She had opened the shop and I hadn't bothered to activate the antiglamour spell in the lobby, so I was now looking at the heart-shaped-face, brunette version of Trixie.

"What happened?" she demanded as soon as I rounded the corner. Her eyes widened and she gasped as her gaze dropped down to the blood-soaked side of my s.h.i.+rt and pants. Dropping the little white book she had been holding on to the counter, she closed the distance between us. She jerked up the s.h.i.+rt and leaned down to inspect my side, which now held an angry red line smeared with dried blood. It hurt like h.e.l.l when I moved, but the worst of it had healed. I wasn't sure if the scars on my soul would ever heal. "Who did this?"

"The guy with the information," I bit out. "Things didn't go so well."

"I guessed as much." She let the s.h.i.+rt fall back into place as she straightened, a frown on her lips. She opened her mouth to say something else, but I caught it in my own mouth as I roughly kissed her. Something had snapped in the back of my brain. Maybe it was her closeness. Her smell. The softness of her lips or her voice. Or maybe it was the thought that I was close to losing her. I don't know. I needed to kiss her more than I needed anything else in this world. She hesitated for only a second before she kissed me back, her tongue tangling with mine as she wrapped her arms around my neck.

My hands drifted down, cupping her a.s.s as I pressed her against me. It was almost painful how quickly I got hard. I kept her against me, grinding against her softness until she moaned in my mouth. Sliding my hands down to the back of her thighs, I tried to spread her legs so that I could step between them while trapping her against the counter, but she was still wearing the skirt from earlier and it was restricting her movement. With a grunt of frustration, I stepped back enough to start pulling up her skirt so that it was gathered about her waist.

"Gage," she said in a half gasp, half moan. "The shop is still open. Anyone could walk in."

Clenching my teeth, I released her with my right hand. Summoning up some energy, I waved my hand toward the lobby. A click of the dead bolt falling into place echoed through the quiet shop while all the lights blinked out. The place now looked closed. Sunlight seeped around the shade over the window in the tattooing room, allowing me to clearly see the woman in my arms.

"Lose the glamour," I said harshly while putting my right hand on her upper thigh again. Trixie closed her eyes and gave a little sigh before I found myself once again holding the beautiful blonde that I loved. It wasn't that I found the blond version more attractive than the brunette. It was that I felt like I was cheating on Trixie when I kissed the brunette. It also didn't feel real, and right now I needed real.

When she opened her eyes and smiled at me, I kissed her with the same urgency that I'd felt when I started this. I pulled her legs apart enough that I could step between them, pressing my own raging erection against her. Trixie groaned, threading the fingers of one hand through my short hair while the fingernails of her other hand scratched along my back. Pinned as she was between the counter and my groin, I leaned away and unb.u.t.toned the tiny white b.u.t.tons of her blouse. A grin lifted the corners of my mouth as I dipped my head down, kissing along the tops of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s until I could pull the cups of her bra down and take one pert nipple in my mouth. She arched her back, her hand tightening in my hair.

My sanity was going up in flames, faster and faster with each soft moan, arch of her back, and bite of her nails. I needed to be inside her, losing myself in her before I lost my mind. We were rus.h.i.+ng headlong into an explosion. Not wanting to cheat Trixie, I wanted to slow down, but I was nearly beyond rational thought and gentleness.

With one hand kneading an a.s.s cheek, I reached between us, brus.h.i.+ng against the soft mound between her legs with my knuckles. Her whole body jerked, pulling muscles bowstring taut. A soft whimper escaped her and it was music. I smiled as I pushed aside her delicate silk panties.

"Oh G.o.d, tell me you're wet for me," I murmured. She let out a broken cry as I slid two fingers between her fleshy folds and circled her c.l.i.t. She was drenched, making me impossibly hard. I played with the throbbing little nub before sliding one finger inside of her, earning me a deep moan. "Is that what you want? Or maybe this?" I pulled out one finger and slid in two. She moved on my hand, pleasuring herself. "You're so wet. I could slide right inside you." I pulled my hand back, returning to her swollen c.l.i.t. Trixie moaned at the loss, bucking against me. The torture was exquisite and I was so ready, but I wanted her as mindless as I was.

"Tell me what you want," I whispered in a rough voice I barely recognized.

Trixie's eyes popped open and she looked at me. Her face was beautifully flushed and her breathing was quick. "f.u.c.k me, Gage. I need you inside me now."

Cupping her a.s.s, I picked her up while she wrapped both arms around my neck and I dropped her on the nearest tattooing chair. I stepped back and looked at her a second. She was a vision of pure s.e.xual temptation. Her skirt was bunched around her waist while her s.h.i.+rt was open, revealing the loveliest pair of b.r.e.a.s.t.s I'd ever seen. Her face was flushed and her wet lips were slightly parted in antic.i.p.ation.

"If you don't want those ruined, I'd remove your panties," I said while undoing my own jeans and shoving them down as I straddled the chair. To my surprise, Trixie simply smiled at me while raising her arms above her head to grip the back of the chair. I smiled back as one hand drifted down to stroke my erection once. Trixie licked her lips, her eyes following my hand. This woman was making me lose my mind.

Unable to prolong the moment any longer for either of us, I reached down and ripped her panties with one hard jerk. Cupping her a.s.s in both hands, I lifted her before plunging deep inside her wet, tight body. We both groaned as I pushed deep, filling her. She felt so wonderful that I didn't ever want to leave this spot. I held still for a couple seconds, soaking in the amazing sensations before I set off on a mindless rhythm.

There was no more thought. I was moving on pure instinct, my body pistoning into hers. I could see the muscles in her arms tighten as she gripped the back of the chair for support while arching her body into mine, trying to get as close as possible. I pounded into her, filling her and stretching her while trying to keep in contact with her c.l.i.t, giving her as much pleasure as I could while I lost what remained of my mind. Time no longer made sense.

And then she screamed as her o.r.g.a.s.m ripped through her. Her entire body tightened and clenched. I immediately followed, shouting nonsense as every nerve ending in my body exploded in the most perfect sensation. The pleasure was so sharp it was painful. I kept pounding into her through both our o.r.g.a.s.ms until there was nothing left of me.

Releasing her, I leaned forward, holding myself up on shaking arms with the back of the chair she was reclining in. Her own arms flopped down at her sides, her breathing coming in short, violent pants. I looked down to find her watching me with a lopsided smile on her lips.

"I don't know which one of us needed that more," she announced.

A laugh jumped from me, knocking my head back as my eyes closed. I was alive and happy. I didn't deserve to be after all those people had died, but alive meant that I could keep others from dying at the end of a wand.

Leaning down, I kissed her lips, giving her the gentleness that I couldn't earlier. I pushed off the chair and straightened, pulling from her body with some regret. I noticed her wince as she pulled her legs back together and readjusted her skirt. A sharp flash of guilt tore through me. "Did I hurt you?" I asked while tucking myself back into my jeans before refastening them.

Trixie gave me a wry little grin while fixing her bra and s.h.i.+rt. "I'm a little stiff and sore," she admitted.

"I'm sorry." Coming to stand beside the chair, I gently scooped her up before I sat down where she had been. I settled her in my lap, wrapping my arms around her. "I wasn't thinking too clearly. I-"

Trixie placed a finger over my mouth, stopping my apology. "I'm stiff and sore, but I loved every second of it and wouldn't change a thing."

I breathed a sigh of relief, tightening my hold on her. She laid her head on my shoulder while wrapping her arms around my body. We sat in silence for several minutes. I closed my eyes, listening to her breathing slow and even out as I did everything within my power to keep from thinking, halting the inevitable review of the events of the day.

"Feeling any better?" she asked.

I smiled, but it felt uneven, as if the muscles in my face were suddenly too tired to obey my commands. "Yes, but I think I should be in mourning. Many brain cells were lost in the creation of that o.r.g.a.s.m."

Trixie chuckled. "I appreciate their sacrifice."

I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Anything for you." And I meant it. I would do anything for Trixie to keep her safe, to make her happy.

She leaned back to look up at me, her expression turning serious. "Considering the mood that you arrived in, I'm guessing that your errand didn't go well."

The last of the happiness that was bubbling throughout my body evaporated and I could feel the tension creeping back into my muscles. It was time to return to reality. This little break had helped keep the horrors at bay, but I couldn't put the world on hold forever.

"Yes and no," I said. Reave was on the run and the Towers were determined to set the world on fire while they searched for him. On the other hand, I had a possible way of contacting a somewhat mythical being who might be able to help the elves. Chang was pretty d.a.m.n reliable, but this one felt like a stretch. "How was your day?" I quickly demanded, trying to evade any questions that might lead to a conversation about Reave.

Bracing her arm on the back of the chair past my shoulder, Trixie twisted around and grabbed a piece of paper off the counter. She handed it to me with a look of disgust. There were three things written on it: Lower average birth weight Shorter average gestation Mushroom decrease Black Forest "I've read almost the entire book Arianna gave me and these are the only anomalies that were noted during the few times that our women gave birth," she said, sounding more than a little frustrated.

"The lower birth weight makes sense if babies are being born earlier," I murmured, handing back the paper, which she dropped onto the counter before settling against me. It didn't feel as if there was anything to go on with that, but I could at least mention it to Gaia when I saw her. "We need to know why the women were having trouble conceiving. Any note of an increase in miscarriage?"

"Nope. If we can get pregnant, then we keep the baby."

"What about that mushroom line?"

"Oh, that," she said with a blush. "That was a note mostly for myself. The last time the Summer Court pa.s.sed through the Black Forest a few decades back, there was a note that there was a significant decrease in the mushrooms found. The ones that grow in the Black Forest are something of a delicacy and everyone was disappointed."

A smile p.r.i.c.ked at the corners of my mouth as I stared at her. A part of me wondered how much she missed her old life with her people, but I smothered the thought as soon as it formed. If she missed it too much, she might feel the need to return home and not come back to Asylum.

"Did the Hearth Women tell you anything interesting?"

Trixie s.h.i.+fted her shoulders against me in a shrug. "Nothing too helpful. They were very sympathetic and concerned when I told them the problem. They gave me an entire list of herbal remedies and warnings, but most of them look familiar, so I'm sure we've tried them. They also gave me a few potions to be burned that are supposed to cleanse the air of evil intent and emotions. We don't exactly believe in that sort of thing."

"I can't imagine that it would hurt to try. Anything else?"

Trixie was silent for a moment before she spoke again in a low voice. "They also believe that I'm quite fertile right now."

I stiffened beneath her and my breath became trapped in my lungs as my mind scrambled, replaying that sentence as I tried to read her tone of voice. Was she scared? Hopeful? Excited? Worried? She was centuries old. She might be old enough to hear the biological clock ticking down. Did she want a baby? Even if it was mine. I was at that age when normal human males were supposed to be thinking about settling down and having a family. Unfortunately, my life looked like a war zone set in a natural disaster. Not a good time for a baby. Even if things weren't a disaster, did I want a baby?

Trixie leaned back so she could look at my face. Laughter filled her vibrant green eyes. "Breathe, Gage. Breathe. I was teasing. I want kids, but right now isn't a good time."

I tightened my arms around her, pulling her against my chest as I sighed with relief and closed my eyes.

"Besides," she continued in a blase voice, "I'm not sure you'd be my first choice for a father." I knew she felt me instantly stiffen at her words because she started laughing.

"Woman," I growled, "you're going to be the death of me."

"You worry too much," she murmured against my chest. Her fingers ran along my shoulders, soothing away some of the tension. A part of me longed to close my eyes and drift away in a dreamless sleep for a couple hours, but there wasn't time and this wasn't the place.

"Since this isn't a good time, I'm guessing that we're protected against today's bit of madness," I said, forcing my eyes open.

"Yes, we're safe," she said evenly, but I could still feel the laughter in her.

My gaze darted over to the one window in the room. The light coming in through the shade had dimmed significantly, casting deeper shadows about the room. The sun was setting and Bronx would be in the shop soon. This stolen private time was coming to an end and we needed to go back to the reality.

I captured Trixie's mouth in another gentle but searing kiss that left her sighing before I rose from the chair with her in my arms. Putting her back in the chair, I ran one hand absently through my hair and tried to focus my thoughts.

"Gage, about this afternoon and Demoiselle Noire . . ." Her lovely voice drifted off as she brought up the one topic that I wanted to permanently purge from my mind.

I clenched my eyes shut and held up one hand, halting any additional words. Muscles tightened and spasmed throughout my body as my mind flashed images of Noire while recalling her cold touch, that intoxicating scent, and the lush curves of her frame as she enticed me. I wanted to be sick, vomit up everything within me until I was free of her memory, but it doesn't work that way. I was stuck with her in my head.

"Please," I said when I could speak past the lump in my throat. "I know we have to talk about it, but not yet. I'm not ready yet."

"Okay."

"I can say that nothing happened."

"Gage . . ."

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes when I could turn my thoughts back to the parlor and the waning light. "Bronx will be in soon. I'll light some candles and open the shop again."

Trixie flashed me a devilish grin as she pushed back to her feet. "I'll get the bleach."

I shook my head as I headed to the lobby. This was the first time we had had s.e.x in Asylum. I had mentally sworn that we wouldn't, but then I hadn't been thinking clearly when I had arrived. My promise to myself to keep business and personal separate wasn't working out too well, but I wasn't willing to throw all my efforts out the window. This was a small stumble. I'd do better the next time. Yeah, f.u.c.king right.